Their interpretation of California law currently is that it is not specifically illegal, because it doesn’t involve an image of an actual child [...]
Though, taking an actual image of a classmate and face-swapping it onto a naked body or "enhancing" it definitely involves an image of an actual child. Hence it should be illegal. And I think the argumentation is bullshit. It just applies to completely fabricated images. Which I think shouldn't be mixed with deepfakes of actual people which I think is a much more pressing issue. And shouldn't be slowed down by arguing about everything at the same time. The really bad stuff could be addressed right away. And laws are already in place.